Jamal Crawford has been one of the rising stars in the NBA broadcasting space in recent years, as he’s been fantastic as part of TNT’s coverage, both in studio and as part of game broadcasts. Crawford’s love for basketball is always apparent, and the same effortless cool that defined his slick offensive game carries over to TV work.
Last year, we saw Crawford join Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan for some playoff game work in the booth, where he got to show he can slot in with one of the league’s top broadcast tandems. With TNT entering their final season of NBA coverage, Crawford figured to be one of the hottest broadcasting free agents next year. However, Crawford’s contract with TNT apparently ran up at the end of the 2023-24 season, and he explained to a fan on Twitter that he’s a “TV free agent” right now going into the 2024-25 season.
Crawford said he has a feeling he’ll be calling games again this season, and he should be a coveted addition for any network covering the league. The question is, will ESPN bring him in or will Amazon or NBC look to lock him up for when they get NBA rights in 2025 — which could lead him to figuring out a one-year deal with TNT. When we did our commentary team draft for NBC and Amazon, Crawford was one of the first names off the board and I have little doubt he’ll find a new broadcast home by the time games tip-off in October.